Rosie Mattio: The Intersection of Luxury Cannabis and Intellectualism

Author's Note: I love working with talented intellects who enjoy the cannabis space for more than just a job, these "think on their feet" entrepreneurs genuinely want to make a difference and are leading the thrust towards doing better by others, one step at a time. I am fortunate to work with several industry leaders in the Public Relations world of cannabis and all are supportive of my desire to document the talented and the entrepreneurial. One such talented person is Rosie Mattio. Rosie has her own cannabis-centric agency that specializes in luxury cannabis products. Her list of clients reads like a "Who's Who" of the New Cannabis Age, but Rosie is not about shouting their accolades to the world. Quite to the contrary, her strength is organic. She brings people together through synergy and her ease of communication. She makes you feel comfortable in your path, because in the case of this company, brains push forwards- rather than sheer brawn. It takes more than one key player, however to make a team work in the cannabis space. As cannabis is organic, the methods of promotion are also organic. Not forcing, but guiding the guest, through the life of a product or service. Helping, guiding, but not doing is another method of great cannabis PR. Part of the passion of cannabis is the methodology of our tribe. Cannabis is not for everyone, but with the non-conformist views of this talented firm, what Rosie does is allow the consumer to learn along with the teacher, instead of the teacher knowing everything. Knowing everything is impossible in life, and it takes humility to discover the secrets of great Cannabis-Centric PR. I'm honored to share with you, Rosie Mattio, PR., and her five (or so) questions.

RM: I'm a firm believer in blazing a path that others might not follow. In 2014, my family relocated to Seattle, where Cannabis had just changed over to an adult use market. I was in the right spot to be hired to launch a crowdfunding campaign for a hardcover Cannabis cookbook. This opportunity provided me to bring together my experience in food and tech PR, which has been my firms specialty. That campaign was the beginning of my Cannabis practice which allowed me to meet and network with all of the innovative Cannabis companies in Seattle. I now had a clear vision for my career path as I created a network of friends and colleagues who have helped us grow RMPR into one of the largest Cannabis PR and marketing agencies in the industry.

RMPR is about providing best-in-class PR and marketing services to Cannabis businesses across the globe. We partner with industry leading companies and entrepreneurs to help them gain exposure for their products, technologies and services. We specialize in garnering Cannabis specific press for our client and have been leaders in gaining global media coverage in mainstream publications. In fact, we were responsible for the first Cannabis article ever published in Oprah Magazine!

Rosie Mattio "Working it"

Photo Courtesy: Rosie Mattio, PR

Forbes:What is your six month plan? What makes you different?

RM: Our six month plan is to continue to grow our team, client base, and services offered. Over the past year we've grown beyond public relations capabilities, but now focus also on content, SEO, events,and influencer marketing. What makes us different is while we are a team of 6 right now and represent over 20 of the top companies in the space, we maintain a really intimate relationship with all of our clients. If you asked any of our clients they would say the following: " RMPR feels like our in house team." Despite our massive growth, we always want to to maintain that close relationship with our clients.

Rosie Mattio

Photo Courtesy: Rosie Mattio, PR

Forbes: Do you cook? If so, who taught you? Mom, Dad, Grandparents? TV cooking shows? What is your favorite meal look like? Is there anything that you eat/drink that brings a tear to your eye? Why?

RM: I LOVE to cook. My husband and I rarely go out to dinner. Cooking is my creative outlet and brings me a lot of joy. A fun night for us is looking at a menu from a top restaurant and picking a dish to recreate. Or my husband travels abroad often and will send me a picture from the dinner table and say, " you can make this" and inevitably we will have DanDan noodles, or Sticky Korean chicken, or a fish dish he tried in Barcelona the following Friday night. I also bake Challah every Friday afternoon with my four daughters for the Sabbath. They are spoiled at this point and won't eat store bought! I learned to cooked from both my mother and my grandmother who are/ were both incredible cooks. My grandmother always has my favorite Veal Goulash waiting for me when I would go to her home for dinner. I learned to be adventurous and creative with cooking from my mother. My children and I often enjoyed Chicken Curry, at age 5 when my children's less adventurous friends were just eating plain hot dogs.

Korean Chicken

Photo Courtesy: Rosie Mattio, PR

Forbes: Do you mentor others? What does an Entrepreneur in the cannabis space look like to you? Who is your core client?

RM:I try to be a mentor to the women who are working in my office and help them learn about what it means to work hard and in integrity ( we use the word integrity a lot in our office).

We also try to help others in the industry as well. I have a lot of pride in my firm, that if a reporter comes to us looking for sources we always pass on those leads to other publicists and firms. To me, a cannabis entrepreneur is collaborative not competitive, and wants to help move this industry forward. I hope our firm continues to be a leading example of this collaborative philosophy.

Rosie Mattio, PR Team

Photo Courtesy: Rosie Mattio, PR

Rosie Mattio

Photo Courtesy: Rosie Mattio, PR

Forbes:If you could be anywhere in the world, right now- where would that be? Doing what?

RM:While sitting on a beach with my family reading a book and sipping a fruity cocktail sounds pretty great, truly there is nowhere I would rather be than where I am right now. The growth of this industry and my firm gives me so much energy and excitement. I love coming in to our offices every day and sitting with my team strategizing the next campaign and pitch. I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now and I am enjoying every minute of it.